The Venture Plan Mr. Singh

Life Cycle of a Business 3 Stages Stage 1: Prestart up Stage 2: Development Stage 3: Growth, Comfort & Turnaround

Prestart up Stage Preparations for launching the business Generate ideas, initiate research, identify and solve problems You need to look at your resources and figure out how to allocate them You begin to write your business plan a.k.a venture plan Start budgeting and a timeline Consider the commitments you need to make and decide whether to take your idea to the next level

Development Stage By now your research, business plan, market testing and arrangements to get funds is complete Your goal for this stage is to reach your break-even point – total monthly revenues = total monthly costs What are monthly revenues and monthly costs? Discussed in class One type of monthly cost is fixed over head – rent, telephone bills, etc.

Growth Stage Now we are past the break-even point and we’re making profit Now we bring in more people, perhaps experts, to share the workload and help the business expand We might add new products or services We might add e-commerce or open another location You might want to add a partner to the business or acquire more financing to grow

Comfort Stage Now you’re company is still growing but slow (say 10% per year) The company is making money and we’re comfortable with the income and enjoying our life We have more assets than liabilities We can’t get too comfortable at this stage, as it can be dangerous if we don’t adapt to changes for growth Economy is always changing and we need to monitor it

Turnaround Stage If you reach this stage, you’re business is in trouble You are now losing money for more than 2 years and your competition is taking customers away This is where you eliminate non-productive people, products and services This is where people get layoffs happen Liquidation of some assets may be necessary to get cash.

Venture Plan What is it? A road map for a running venture – a written plan of what you want to accomplish 1. A mission statement – your vision, objectives 2. Your market research 3. List of financials 4. Operations – how will the business run 5. Plan for raising money to start the business

Sections of our Venture Plan 1. Title Page Title of our plan 2. Executive Summary One or two page summary of the most important points in your plan Introduce your business Capture the attention of the reader Normally includes a mission statement followed by a description of your business

Sections of our Venture Plan Executive Summary What makes your business good? Include your competitive advantage What makes your business better than your competitors Who are your competitors? Explain the type of market chosen Why is your plan going to be successful Make predictions based on evidence

Sections of our Venture Plan 3. Company Description This is a subsection of executive summary Describe your company’s visions and goals 4. Products & Services Describe the type of product or service you have in detail You must explain to the reader what you’re product or service is and how it works

Sections of our Venture Plan 5. Marketing Plan How are you going to attract customers? How are you going to market this product? How are you going to promote this product? Where are you going to sell this product? 6. Management & Logistics How is your company structured? Who is responsible for what? How do you run your company? Day-to-day operation of the company

Sections of our Venture Plan 7. Financial Plan How much will it cost to start the venture? How much will it cost to keep it going? Expected costs and revenues for the venture How much capital will be required and when it will be needed Anything related to money for your business should be included in your financial plan